


If I Go, There Will Be Trouble

by greenotter



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Sorry Stancy shippers, Steve/Nancy is only in the beginning, This ends with Jonathan/Steve, but the Stonathan tag is dead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-23 20:47:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9675875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenotter/pseuds/greenotter
Summary: After New Year's, life in Hawkins returns back to normal, save for a few things.One of those things happens to be that Jonathan Byers, Nancy Wheeler, and Steve Harrington have become a strange and unexpected trio.But when Nancy travels to New York for school, things change and Jonathan and Steve aren't sure how to tell Nancy what's been occurring since she's been gone.





	1. Steve and Nancy

The main holidays at the end of the year leave everyone in a happy sort of buzz. Making Halloween costumes is exciting and sometimes stressful. Buying Christmas presents can be exhausting, and making (but not following through with) New Year’s resolutions is almost effortless. But after around the first week of the new year, life is back to bland, boring normal. Except in Hawkins, Indiana.

School occurred five days a week again, and people went grocery shopping on Sundays. But the personal lives of some choice people were never again the same. Mike and Nancy Wheeler, two siblings who almost never interacted save for fighting, now had a strict no-secrets policy and kept tabs on each other. Will and Jonathan Byers, two brothers who always had each other’s backs, were even closer than ever. Steve Harrington was now even more of a heart throb, redeeming himself for his girlfriend Nancy; and even though he wasn’t as popular as he used to be, he decided it was worth it.

Being with Nancy was worth it. Seeing her smile and kissing her and getting to be around her all the time was so worth it. And if Jonathan Byers, who was sort of involved with Nancy for a little bit, happened to be in the mix of it all sometimes, it was still pretty much worth it. More so now that he and Steve were very good friends now.

It mostly started when Nancy was sick one day. She wasn’t there waiting in front of school, and when he asked around for change for the payphone and called her, she explained to him in a cruddy voice that she was feeling absolutely awful and would probably sleep all day. So Steve walked into his Spanish class early and saw Jonathan Byers there. He smiled and said a small “hey,” before sitting down at his desk.

“You’re here early, Harrington,” Jonathan announced from the left side of the room. Steve looked over to see him smiling a tad.

“Nancy’s sick today, so I had nowhere to be. Are you always this early?” Jonathan shrugged and fiddled with some papers on his desk.

“Most days I am. I don’t really have any friends to hang out with.” The old Steve would have laughed at how sad that statement was.

“You have me and Nancy,” Steve says instead, kicking his legs up on the neighboring chair. Jonathan seemed to think that was hilarious, judging by his snicker.

“No offense, but I don’t really want to be the third wheel while you guys make out in the women’s restroom.” Steve takes his feet down as he sees a girl enter the classroom; both of them are silent.

“Sometimes we do it in the men’s room,” Steve counters before more people pile in and the conversation is over.

The next day, Nancy is back. She’s standing there in front of the doors of the school like always, but this time she’s talking to Jonathan Byers. He’s awkwardly towering over her, his hands shoved in his pockets. She at ease, leaning against the brick wall and smiling as she holds her textbooks that wouldn’t fit in her bags. They look like exact opposites, like they clash (hahaha The Clash) in completely different worlds, and Steve smiles. He walks up there, gives Nancy a peck on the lips, and joins the conversation.

“Speaking of,” he interrupts. “Would you like to get some milkshakes after school with me?” he asks Nancy. He’s smirking, radiating charm that works on anybody. She seems to think for a while before smiling and nodding. “Cool.” He gives her another kiss, this time one that lingers. Steve will admit that he’s still got a trail of jealousy from when he thought Jonathan was sleeping with his girlfriend. The warning bell rings, making him pull away from her. Nancy immediately rushes toward the doors.

“Sorry, I’m never this late!” she shouts before leaving Steve and Jonathan to walk to their Spanish class together.

“So, what’s your favorite kinda milkshake?” Steve questions, bumping his shoulder into Jonathan’s. Jonathan looks confused.

“What?” he asks, a small smile tugging on his lips.

“After school, remember? We’re getting milkshakes,” Steve says matter-of-factly, as if Jonathan knew this all along.

“Oh, I thought, um,” Jonathan opens the door and walks in, “I don’t know. Vanilla, I guess.” Steve acts like this is a personal offense, throwing his hand to his heart and opening his mouth in a wide ‘o’.

“Vanilla is so boring! You don’t at least like a lot of whipped cream? So much that your straw is barely poking out?” Steve tries to reason. Jonathan gives a disgusted look and sits down. Now Steve is towering over him even more than he already was, and he’s forced to tilt his head all the way up, so that he can feel his hair on his back.

“That’s gross. Just plain vanilla is fine for me. I don’t even really like milkshakes anyway. I prefer ice cream.” Now Steve is sitting down, too. Next to him, not at his assigned seat. Someone named Ethan stands there awkwardly before giving up and taking Steve’s seat.

“You’re strange, Jonathan Byers,” Steve says, smiling wide before he turns to the front of the room as class starts. Jonathan stares, bewildered, before grimacing.

“And you’re extremely rude, Steve Harrington.”

Jonathan Byers, Nancy Wheeler, and Steve Harrington were all sitting in Steve’s car as he drove down the road. Nobody was talking because one of Nancy’s favorite songs was on the radio; she sang along as Steve tapped his fingers against the wheel rhythmically and Jonathan stared out the window. Steve sped past the laundromat, the sheriff's office, and the local Hawkins Restaurant.

“I thought we were getting milkshakes?” Nancy questioned, turning the music down. Steve absent-mindedly twirled one of her stray locks of hair.

“Change of plans,” he smiled. Jonathan had a feeling he knew where they were going.

Steve parallel-parks next to Sally’s Ice Cream and pulls the keys out, winking at Jonathan through the rear-view mirror. “Is this okay?” he asks Nancy. She smiles and nods.

“This is fine,” and then she leans over to give him a kiss. Jonathan is the first out of the car, smoothing down his shirt as he waits for Nancy and Steve. The three enter the store almost obnoxiously, laughing about some dumb joke Steve made. Nancy scans the small store for somewhere to sit and Jonathan accompanies Steve to the front counter. There’s a short girl there with choppy blonde hair tied into a low ponytail. Her name tag reads “Amanda” and she smiles with big, white teeth.

“Welcome to Sally’s, what can I get you?” Both boys scan the menu; Steve pulls out his wallet and skims through. “We’ll get a large fudge sundae; you know, the whole deal with the bananas and everything?” He grins lopsidedly and leans over the counter. Jonathan reaches for his own wallet and checks the price before a hand stops him. “I got this, Byers. See? Not extremely rude.” He smiles and sends him away to sit with Nancy. Jonathan can hear him talking to Amanda still. “Do I have to pay extra if I want both chocolate and strawberry sauce? Also, do you have raspberries?”

Nancy is sitting on the inside of the booth, already her bags’ contents are spilled out on the table. Jonathan sits on the opposite side, trying to read her textbook upside down (hahaha why am I like this).

“Science?” he asks, a moment later. She looks up and gives him a smile.

“Yeah, I’ve got a chapter test on Monday for Kaminsky. He’s impossible,” she says, shaking her head.

“I wouldn’t know. I have Williams,” Jonathan says. “What chapter are you studying? Maybe I can help.” She’s opened her mouth to reply when Steve arrives, holding a large dish of ice cream sundae.

“Make room for deliciousness,” he says with a goofy grin. “And the sundae, too.” He winks at Nancy and she stifles a laugh before she shuffles her papers to one side. Steve immediately digs in, grabbing a chunk of banana and dipping it into a pool of fudge. Nancy takes small bites of ice cream topped with sprinkles before returning to her textbook, jotting down notes on flashcards. Jonathan digs deeper into the sundae to find the untouched parts of vanilla ice cream, savouring in the cold flavor. Steve and Jonathan are playing silent I Spy to keep from bothering Nancy, which consists of one person choosing an object they see, then, using the rules of charades, mimicking the object they see until the other person guesses. After ten minutes, they steal one of Nancy’s pens and start keeping score. The trio continue on like this for what seems like hours, but when they look at the clock, they realize it’s only been forty-five minutes. Amanda from the front counter walks up to them with a phone and announces that Nancy Wheeler has a call from her mother.

“Nancy, where are you?” her mom demands as soon as she puts the phone up to her ear. She can hear Holly in the background fussing and her father shouting at the tivo again.

“I’m at Sally’s with a couple friends, why?” Nancy is trying to be polite as possible, because Holly in the background is reminding her it’s her turn this week to babysit when both parents are busy. And Friday is date night for them.

“Because your father and I are about to leave for our date and you have to take care of Holly, you know this,” her mom whines.

“Can’t Mike do it?” she complains quietly, knowing this will backfire. Steve and Jonathan have stopped their game and are now staring at her, waiting for an explanation. She pats Steve on the shoulder and he jumps up so she can get out.

“It’s your week, and Mike isn’t even here. He’s at his friend Will’s house.” Nancy glances at Jonathan.

“Fine, I’ll be home as fast as I can. Love you, bye.” She hangs up before her mom can say goodbye back. “Here you go,” she smiles, handing the phone back to Amanda.

“Do you need a ride home?” Steve asks her. She nods, and begins packing up her bag. Both boys stand up and begin helping her, and before they know it, they’re on their way to the Wheeler house.

When they arrive, Nancy jumps out and runs over to the other side, while Steve rolls his window down. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come in. My mom is already mad enough I talked back to her. I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

“Right.” They kiss and then Nancy bounds up the porch, shutting the door behind her. “You wanna get in the front?” he asks Jonathan and waits as he stumbles up into the passenger seat. “You could have used the doors,” he says, chuckling. The car is pulled into reverse and Jonathan mumbles,

“It’s cold.”

The sunset turns the sky a light purple and the clouds are a deep orange as Steve rolls down the highway. “Where to next, Byers?”

“I should be getting home, too,” Jonathan says.

“Aw, you’re no fun, Jonny!” Steven punches his shoulder and laughs; Jonathan smiles.

“Don’t call me that ever again.”

“Sure thing, Jonny. What’s your mom cooking for dinner?” Steve makes a hard left, and Jonathan grips the side of his door.

“Did you just invite yourself to my house for dinner?” he croaks out. Steve just laughs again.

“Ice cream can’t fill a guy’s stomach, Byers. Even if it does have bananas in it. And complementary raspberries.” Jonathan shakes his head and smiles. He didn’t think his mom would be too mad that he was bringing home a friend for dinner unannounced.

“We’re having vegetable stew.”


	2. Dinner at the Byers House

It took only four more minutes of rumbling down the road before Steve pulled up onto the dirt patch in front of the Byers’ house. The car jerked forward as it parked and Steve jumped out, followed by Jonathan.

“Um, we weren’t expecting visitors,” Jonathan warns just before he opens the door. “I’m home!” Inside of the house was a completely different world than the quiet, dark night outside. Will and his friends were making a racket in the lit up living room and Jonathan’s mom was fussing about in the kitchen.

“Jonathan, what took you so long? I just got off work twenty minutes ago, I’m only starting dinner now, so,” Joyce Byers was busy in the kitchen, not even turning around to talk to her son. She was currently leaning over a large pot of something that smelled like a humid garden. Will was in the living room with three other young boys, all hunched around something on the table.

“Oh!” Steve makes surprised eye contact with Joyce, who is holding up a wooden spoon dripping with a brown substance. “Um, who is this?” Suddenly all of the attention is on Steve.

“Um, this is Steve. Is it alright if he stays for dinner, mom?” Jonathan says, stepping in front of her.

“Uh, sure, sure. Will, can you get a chair from the shed?” Joyce asks, and then suddenly realizes what she’s said. “Actually, Jonathan...” Jonathan nods and drops his bag on the couch. He ruffles his hands through Will’s hair before he jogs out the back door. He comes back with a chair on his back and Steve charming his mother. He’s leaning on the counter with his famous smirk painted on his face, and Jonathan has no clue nor does he even want to know what they’re talking about. Jonathan plops the mismatching chair down on one side of the table, causing a bang. Steve turns around and smiles even wider.

“Speak of the devil,” he says and wraps his arm around Jonathan’s shoulder, which can only mean embarrassment and torment for Jonathan. Joyce looks between the two boys and secretly smiles; which just consists of her smiling wide while ducking her head and finding a good reason to turn around. Steve brings his arm down and Jonathan feels lighter.

“Jonathan, could you set the table?” his mom asks. Both he and Steve make a move for the cupboards. “Oh no, Steve. You sit down, you’re a guest,” she says, pointing her dripping wooden spoon at him. Steve pretends to feel threatened but sits down anyway. Jonathan rolls his eyes as he’s leaning to get bowls. “Also, Jonathan, be polite and offer Steve a drink.”

Jonathan sighs and as he’s setting down the bowls, asks, “What would you like to drink, monsieur?” There a tip of a smile playing at his lips and Steve plays along.

“A glass of ice water should be great, mon amour.” Jonathan laughs awkwardly and Steve acts like this is all totally normal, to call one of his friends ‘my love’.

“Do you even know what that means?” Jonathan questions, reaching in the freezer to get ice.

“Not a clue,” Steve laughs. Jonathan accidentally lets the water overflow and he has to pour some out into another cup. His mom seems to have a smile stuck on her face, and Jonathan realizes she thinks Steve must be his boyfriend or something, which is totally ridiculous because she doesn’t even know he’s gay.

“Mom, no.” He’s pointing a melting ice cube at her, which he then pops into his mouth. She doesn’t say anything but brings out the large pot and sets it down at the table.

“Boys, dinner!” she shouts, untying her apron and sticking the large wooden spoon into the pot. “You serve yourselves.” She sits down with her ready-made stew and takes a sip of water from her glass. Will is the first to jump at the pot, pouring stew into his bowl by the brim. When he sets it down, some splashes onto his hand, and he rushes to the sink while Lucas laughs. Steve and Jonathan share a look.

Dinner is eventful. It starts out with Joyce doing the mom thing and asking her children how their day was and it ends with Steve reenacting a dramatic play he once saw the title of in the newspaper and has no idea what it actually entails. The play was called “The Man Who Had Three Arms” and Steve currently was talking to an imaginary woman named Jennifer who didn’t love him anymore because she discovered his third arm.

“Jenny, please!” Steve shouted, caressing thin air. “My third arm doesn’t matter, it’s what’s in here that counts.” His third arm, which happens to be a soup ladle protruding from under his right arm, touches his chest and he is unable to hold back a laugh. The boys are loving it and so is Joyce, although she’s pretending not to. The play has to end short, however, because Steve looked outside the window at the pitch blackness and realized he should probably be getting home.

“Do any of these boys need a ride home?” Steve asks, resting an elbow on Mike’s head. Mike shoves his arm off.

“No, we’re staying the night,” Dustin says. Steve shows an approving nod and turns to Joyce.

“Thank you for a wonderful dinner, Miss Byers. Jonny, care walking me to my car?” Steve smiles and starts walking back toward the front door.

“You can’t walk alone a few feet?” Jonathan teases, but follows him out anyway. He can hear his mom trying to rally the boys into Will’s room as they crunch the gravel road on the way to the car. “Don’t forget the homework in Spanish,” he says, just to say something because he doesn’t know if they actually had homework in Spanish.

“Ah, right,” Steve says. The door lingers open and Steve has one foot in but he’s still standing; too close to Jonathan’s comfort, he’s just realized.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” says Jonathan, after taking an exaggerated step backwards. He awkwardly waves and slowly turns around. Before he steps onto the porch he hears the car door finally shut and the engine rumbling. He closes the door behind him and begins to clean up the kitchen because Joyce seemed to have forgotten again. Jonathan can’t stop himself from looking out the window and watching as the two red lights turn a corner and pass through the trees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm not gonna lie, I totally forgot about this fic. But I posted a self promo on Tumblr a while back and just saw it got a few notes and saw three lovely comments from you guys, which by the way, I'm so glad you guys enjoyed! Hopefully you haven't forgotten because it's been like two months but here you go. Chapter 2!


	3. Gremlins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, guess who's back!!?? Yeah, I left again, for even longer this time, but I swear this time I will try my darndest to please you, because a few of you a while back had been missing this series, and I've been inspired to continue, so here's my third chapter of this story.
> 
> Also I know Stranger Things 2 is out now and that changes a lot of stuff, importantly in this story, Jonathan and Nancy and Steve's relationships with each other, but as this story goes, it's branching off of Season 1 and forging its own path, like a young child off to college, which is kind of the theme of this chapter!
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys are still reading :)

It’s almost two weeks later, in early February, that Jonathan realizes Steve and Nancy are his best friends. He’s never had one of those before, besides his brother of course. And a boy in the second grade named Ethan who played with him at recess sometimes. Jonathan thinks having two best friends makes him pretty lucky, and he really hopes nothing messes it up.

The phone rings throughout the house, interrupting his thoughts, while Jonathan is in the bathroom washing his hands; Joyce calls out to him, “Jonathan, it’s Nancy again!” and he shakes his hands out before wiping them on his T-shirt and going down the hall. He takes the phone and Nancy immediately begins to speak.

“Jon, do you remember about a month ago when I applied for a scholarship to Cornell?” Nancy spoke so quickly and abruptly that Jonathan had to in exclamation.

“Um, yeah. What, did you get in?” Jonathan took the phone down the hall and into his room, where he plopped down on his bed. He heard a rustling and Nancy’s mom fussing about her.

“I don’t know yet, I’ve got the letter in front of me,” she said. “I’ll open it in a second, mom! Go get dad,” she said. “What is it they say? It the letter is thick it’s a good sign? What’s the best way to tell?” Jonathan could imagine Nancy holding her letter up to the light, trying to read the words, and he laughed. “What?” Nancy asked.

“Nothing, but you know the best way to tell is to open the letter and read it.” He smirked and threw a hand behind his head as he traced patterns on the ceiling. Nancy scoffed and then Jonathan heard a tearing.

“I’m so scared,” she whimpers. Jonathan couldn’t help but laugh once again.

“The worst thing that can happen is they say no, and then you get into your second choice. Hey, why didn’t you call Steve?” he asked her.

“I’m here with her,” another voice piped up from farther away. Jonathan said hi and then waited for Nancy to read her letter. Judging by the silence and then immediate screaming and yelling, Nancy got into Cornell. He can hear multiple conversations and then Jonathan congratulating Nancy, and Jonathan hung up because the phone seemed to have been forgotten about, but he still can’t stop smiling.

Later that day, Steve takes Nancy out for a congratulatory dinner, and the two invite Jonathan along. Together they go to Dairy Queen, opened only last month and immediately became very popular in the town. They sit at a booth, Jonathan and Steve sitting next to each other, and Nancy right across from Steve.

“So, when are you leaving?” Steve asks, excitement but also sadness in his voice. “You know we have to spend as much time together as possible before you do,” he points out to her. She laughs and looks down at the table.

“Well, I have to go down there pretty soon actually with my mom, we’re going to look at the campus again and then decide classes and such, but we’ll only be there for about a week, bus schedules and stuff.” Nancy toys with her sleeve and smiles with a sorry look on her face.

“That’s fine, it’s expected, right?” Steve asks, looking to Jonathan for some reason. “You know about college stuff, right?”

“Steve, you’re going to college,” Nancy points out.

“Well, yeah, but not for a while. I’m waiting a year, remember?” he says, throwing his arm back to rest on the top of the seat. Jonathan feels obliged to pull his head away.

“I still think that’s not a good idea.” Nancy has spoken of her disapproval of that before, but Steve doesn’t want to listen, and Jonathan doesn’t want them to fight. “But, you know, maybe I’m wrong,” she points out, only to loosen the tension Steve had. When their food arrives, the conversation has steered more towards Steve telling stories and filling up the awkward empty silence, and Nancy encouraging him while Jonathan stays silent. They all eat their burgers and fries, and by the time they’re done, it’s eight o’clock and Nancy has to be home in an hour.

After Jonathan climbs into the passenger seat and Steve pulls out of the driveway, the radio is on and they’re speeding down an empty road.

“Do you think skipping a year to go to college is a bad idea?” Steve says, turning the volume down on the radio. Killer Queen is quieter, but somehow still a loud, abrasive song.

“Well, I’ve never thought about doing it, I guess it’s better stress-wise, but then you’re older by the time you need to find a career and such,” Jonathan says. “And anyway, I think it would be good for you. You look like you have a lot to do before you have to leave Hawkins and write more essays.”

“I might not even go to college,” Steve says, before pulling into Jonathan’s driveway. It’s silent because Jonathan doesn’t want to ask why Steve wouldn’t go to college. “It’s just my grades, you know? And who I am; nobody would want me.”

“That’s not necessarily true-” but Jonathan is interrupted.

“I know nobody would want me because I got kind of a bad record, and I didn’t used to care about my grades until it was like way too late. I failed all my classes Freshman year of high school, you know that?” Steve says, turning to Jonathan. He’s expecting an answer.

“You can fix that. You know, talk to your school counselor, they can help you with stuff like that.” But Steve just turns away again. He seems to be thinking, and Jonathan doesn’t want to leave in the middle of a serious conversation like this.

“You wanna go see a movie?” Steve asks. And then Jonathan realizes he’s never hung out with Steve when Nancy wasn’t there. And then Jonathan realizes he’s going to have to do that a lot more often now. And then Jonathan realizes he hasn’t seen Gremlins yet.


End file.
